Dermie lends support to under-siege Bombers

One for all, all for one ... Dermott Brereton says the Bombers would've followed their team-mates' lead in taking supplements.

Robert Prezioso, file photo: Getty Images

Five-time premiership player Dermott Brereton says he can understand why Essendon's playing roster would have taken unnamed supplements under the club's fitness program.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) is joining with the AFL integrity unit to look into supplements that were given to Bombers players last year as part of their fitness regime.

If the investigation shows that players were given banned substances, the ramifications are massive.

The nature of the supplements have not been disclosed and the Bombers have denied their players used performance-enhancing drugs.

The Bombers went to the AFL with their concerns about the supplements and the league referred the matter to ASADA.

The club says it only became aware of the potential problem this week, but rumours had been circulating for months.

Former Bomber Kyle Reimers, who left the club at the end of last season, claims players were asked to sign a waiver before taking the supplements.

Brereton, who works as a forwards coach with Greater Western Sydney, says the Bombers' players would have simply been following the direction of the club's fitness management.

"You do what the rest of the team does, so if the rest of the team has told you to do something, you toe the line," he said.

"You trust that those people are making the right choices. I feel for the players, I feel for the club. They are going to go through a bit of heat."

Brereton says the Bombers' use of supplements simply illustrates that clubs are looking for whatever edge they can get over their rivals.

"You go back 10 years ago and the Brisbane Lions when they were top of the tree - they had the intravenous drip permanently in the arm taped over and that was cutting edge," he said.

"That was outlawed and that was banned for the look it gave the game, but was it contravening any laws at the time? Probably specifically not."

Trust

Port Adelaide said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon that former Bombers Angus Monfries and Henry Slattery (now SANFL-listed) "will cooperate fully with investigators examining matters raised" by Essendon.

Monfries and Slattery played at Windy Hill during the period of time under scrutiny before both joined Port at the end of 2012.

The Power's Alipate Carlile says he has never encountered performance-enhancing drugs during his senior career.

But he says the players usually rely on the club's medical staff to check the legality of what they are taking.

"Most of the time we just trust the club doctors ... and we've got full trust and faith that they'd do everything right by the book," he said.

"Our club doctors are up there with the best in the world, as we've seen, so we just go with what they've given us."

Former ASADA chairman Richard Ings says players need to take responsibility for whatever supplements they use.

"The jury is out on this at the moment," Ings told Fox Sports.

"But if this substance does come back and it turned out to be a prohibited substance, [then] it's a house of cards.

"This could be very serious for the players involved and extremely serious for the club."

Meanwhile, security guards kept fans and media out of the Bombers' new Tullamarine facility as the players trained on Wednesday morning, less than a day after the club became the subject of the doping investigation.